Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Cracking the whip on drunken-driving

The sustained crackdown on drunken-driving has minimised fatal accidents writes V.S. PALANIAPPAN

FOLLOWING INTENSIVE checks by the city police against drunken-driving, statistics show that fatal accidents have come down drastically, says the Commissioner of Police, Coimbatore City, Karan Singha.

Motorists should appreciate the intention of such drives and the human resource spent, he adds. "We intensified this drive because most of the accidents at night are due to drunken-driving. Every fatal accident puts a family through a lot of hardship."

Motorists who ride after a drink risk their life and those of fellow motorists. The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Law and Order, T.S. Anbu, says the vehicle checks by the Prohibition Enforcement Wing (PEW) at two or three places in a day ensures visible policing and instils fear among law breakers. The Law and Order units also stepped in by conducting vehicle checks. In fact, late night clashes and drunken brawls slumped because of this drive, he adds.

In the last one year, the police booked 11,634 cases, says the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, PEW, K. Ganesan. Every offender was fined Rs. 1,000 - fetching Rs. 1.16 crores.

The Assistant Commissioner of Police, PEW, V. Muthuamy, who leads the drive every night says that the personnel deployed at vantage locations subject drunken motorists to a check by a breath analyser - alcometer - for confirmation.

The gadget gives instant printout with vehicle number, name of the motorist, alcohol-level in his breath and name of the officer conducting the check. These printouts are legally sustainable.

The drive is always conducted under the supervision of an officer in the rank of an Assistant Commissioner of Police or Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police. Some of the officers point out that since the drive has yielded rich dividends besides reducing accidents, a minimum sum from the fine can be set aside to equip the police force with more speed radar guns, breath analysers and paint road marks.

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